Studio Sewing Centre

While making pillow covers from molas, I also used the Sewing Centre.

View from the front door looking at the Project Table and Design Wall.

The Sewing Centre is to the right.

The Sewing Centre is basically the same setup I had in my old studio. It worked and I couldn't come up with a better solution until I had worked in this new space for a while.

The sewing table was a daughter's desk I seconded when she left home. It is large and works well.

For my birthday, I have asked for a new sewing chair. It was a used chair when I got it and I have recovered it twice, but now the foam is disintegrating. I need a chair in a desk area I am setting up in the house so this one can go there.

In an otherwise dead corner under the table is a tiered basket on wheels with all of the tools and equipment for sewing.

I like old 50s to 70s government issue furniture. It is usually well worn and very functional. This old map cabinet is where I sort and store stabilisers only a chair swivel away from the sewing table

A 2nd table holds the serger/overlocker. It can easily be moved to the top of the stabiliser/map cabinet when I need to work on the embellisher. They are both light machine and easy to lift into place. I don't use them as often so it wasn't worth the real-estate to give them each a table.

The one chair works with both tables.

Over the cabinet is a window with a view of the forest. It lets in soft south easterly light and keeps me in touch with what is happening outside.

One thing I have been disappointed with is 2 birds have flown into the front windows of the studio. I had thought the lower porch roof would stop them from thinking it was a place to fly through. Hopefully, once the plantings in front of the studio are in this will happen a lot less.

From the Sewing Centre, I walk along the design wall to the back of the Project Table to shelves with boxes of machine threads. No natural light can reach them so they are protected from fading and premature ageing. 

Mola - detail

The old Sewing Centre still works in its new location so I guess I won't be changing anything in the near future. But I will continue to look out for design ideas to improve the space.

New Studio: The Project Table and My First Project

Going into my new space to work, for the first time.

I decided the perfect first project was to work on making pillows for my Etsy shop Ravenmadeworks.

I hauled out my pile of 'refreshed' textiles and sorted through them on the Project Table.

I settled on a set of old Panamanian molas.

The Project Table is where I work through ideas while handling selected textiles and threads.

One of the top drawers contains all sorts of  methods for transfering designs, motifs and patterns on to cloth.

One side of the table's end holds bolts of fabric. The Project Table's solid side faces all of the windows.

The back shelves face the design wall and away from the windows and light. They hold machine threads.

The left drawer holds different types of scissors, tape measures, cutting rulers and other cutting tools.

The right-hand drawer is empty at present, but no doubt will be filled with things I find need while working at the Project Table.

Studio Construction: Complete - Moving Sale

The Green Shed passed its final inspection. We have the building permit.

Ron and I celebrated with a soft (bubbly) opening.

Inside the little box is the front door key.

The fire chief dropped by and gave his final approval.

I have been told I can now "load it up."

So I am having a 'Moving Sale' in my Etsy shop Ravenmade Works

I want to sell some of my stock to save on the 20-step walk between my old studio and the new one. Isn't that what shops do when they change location? 

I am offering a 40% coupon discount for the next couple of weeks.

The Moving Sale coupon code is MOVING40

Now to get to the task in hand - loading up.

Etsy, Ravenmade Works New Pillows

I'm getting ready to list more pillows on my Etsy Shop, Ravenmade Works Shop, but I want to know more about the textiles they are made of, where they came from, and who made them. I want to include this information in the description of the pillows.

Hand spun, hand woven wool fabric is embroidered with wool in geometric, counted cross stitch designs.

I had a successful bid for them at an auction house. 

They were bags that I took apart and "refreshed" as pillows.

If you know anything about this type of work, could you please add a comment to this post or email me with your suggestions - ravenmade@gmail.com. 

Thank you for satisfying my curiosity.

Etsy Ravenmade Works: Hill Tribe Embroidered Pillows

SE Asian Hill Tribe embroidered pillows are the latest addition to my Etsy Shop Ravenmade Works 

I bought a worn western-styled jacket from a thrift store - that I forgot to take a picture of before I started unpicking it.

 It was made from a collection of worn Hill Tribe embroideries pieced together to make the jacket for the tourist market.

I serged all of the raw edges to stabilise them.

Then gave them all a good soak in Oxyclean. No dye came out, I was relieved to see. 

Next they were washed.

Then 'polished' to a damp-dry stage with a heavy, super-steam generating iron.

Then the pieces were put in the boiler room to dry quickly.

A short drying time prevents any would-be fugitive dyes from causing any trouble.

The ground fabric, with it's appliqued strips, originally had a stitched resist before being dipped repeatedly into an indigo vat to achieve the deep blue colour.

Before I ironed the pieces it was easy to see how the fabric had been folded and stitched.

The top part of the image shows how a solidly cross-stitched band has been attached to the appliqued indigo fabric.

These pieces of fabric were from different traditional garments made and worn by possibly the Akha Hill Tribe. 

Akha Hill Tribe

I have reworked this beautiful hand embroidery yet again.

The one jacket is now 7 pillows of various sizes.

All are listed in my Etsy Shop Ravenmade Works . Click here to drop by and see them.

Etsy Shop Ravenmade Works: Pillow Covers

I have a delicious collection of ethnic and traditional textiles all washed, steamed and waiting to be made into pillow covers.

I must admit one of the most fun parts of the process is working out how to turn the textile into a pillow cover to take advantage of its special qualities.

If there are any identifying marks they get included in the cover. Google searches find information about the textile that I add to the description of the pillow cover.

I pass on as much of the provenance and techniques as I know, detailing it in the description of the item in my Etsy shop. Knowing the stories contained in a textile make it more interesting, more authentic and brings one closer to the maker. I like knowing this sort of info and hope there are others out there who do also.

Etsy Shop - Ravenmade Works: My Process

I go to thrift stores, garage sales and estate auctions in search of embroideries, hand made works that have essentially been discarded. Each one has a story about its maker, its owner and its history but for most of them this provenance has been lost.

Sometimes, when I take a work out of it's dusty framing, I'll find a name and maybe a year. Sometimes the stitching has been completed but the work is not framed or finished.

Sometimes the work is unfinished, then I wonder what stopped the stitcher working on it.

Each work is soaked then washed according to the materials it is made from. It is dried quickly in a drying room so the colours don't get a chance to run. Once it is damp-dry, it is pressed and blocked with a steam-generating iron, until it is dry.

Works made from wool are fulled lightly during the washing process so they won't unravel during the cutting up stage.

Individual elements are cut out and grouped according to a colour scheme. 

Crewel embroideries work particularly well.

I go into my stash of vintage textiles to find a background that will work with the collected elements.

Elements are selected, auditioned and composed before I hand and machine stitch them in place.

With needlepoint works, I find 2 that work together then cut them into strips. The 2 different lots of strips are woven together to make a new image but the physiology of the female eye enables her to still see the 2 different embroidered images.

These small works are then mounted in black, shadow-box frames so they can be hung together in groupings or singly.

Etsy Shop - Ravenmade Works

I have an Etsy shop, Ravenmade Works

Here is how I describe my shop.

Refreshed Artworks for the Home

The items in my shop are for people who want their home to be a living expression of themselves and a place where they are surrounded by things they love. 

Used domestic linens, discarded embroideries, worn garments and vintage fabric hold a past history. I recycle, rework and refresh these textiles adding another story or layer of meaning, while honouring the original makers whose handwork is often still evident. 

Customers who listen to their hearts when choosing home decor items create uniquely personal living spaces. As an artist producing small home decor items, I feel it is a privilege to play such an important role in my customers' lives.

I make collections of pillow covers, often using vintage ethnic and traditional textiles.

I collect wool embroideries, cut them apart then applique a variety of them together.

I take 2 different embroideries and weave them together.

These small works are framed and intended for the wall.

I add to my shop some of my smaller works that have been in exhibitions and have returned home.

This is the Micmac one from the 'Postcards From Fundy' series.

Please visit my Etsy Shop to see more works and to find out their background stories.

Etsy Shop Ravenmade Works